Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Challenge of the Super Friends, Episode 11

Episode 11: "Conquerors of the Future"

The Super Friends get thrown for a loop...a time loop, that is!

All across the planet, disasters--both natural and not--occur, as they do. Luckily, the Super Friends are there each time to prevent them, only to be stopped by...members of the Legion of Doom? Yes, the bad guys start saving lives, leaving the Super Friends to stand there like slack-jawed morons:

The Super Friends are stunned by this turn of events, but tentatively decide to give the Legion the benefit of the doubt. Suddenly, a distress call comes from an alien planet, saying that solar flares are destroying everything. Just as they are about to leave, Luthor beams in and say they will handle the job.

But, of course, all of this is yet another ruse to destroy the Super Friends. After The Riddler heads off to the distressed planet to leave a clue, the rest of the Legion heads into the future:

In the year 3984, Earth is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with humans living in a domed city (seen above--pretty spiffy, H-B) and some other, mutant-like race on the outside. We see a few of them (they kinda look like extras from Thundarr The Barbarian), and they run and hide when they see the the Legion's strange-looking ship suddenly materialize. Luthor strikes a deal with the mutants, saying that they both want to attack the domed city

Back in the present, the alien who contacted the Super Friends earlier calls back, wondering why the heroes never came. Waiting for them on the now-doomed planet is The Riddler's clue, which is transmitted from a floating Hall of Doom. Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Black Vulcan attack, only to have it explode and be proved as a decoy. It emits a strange gas which begins breaking down the heroes' molecular structure!

The Legion tricks the leaders of the domed city into letting them in, only to let the mutants follow behind them. The Legion of Doom are now rulers of the Earth! Thanks to some quick thinking by Black Vulcan, the three heroes escape the effects of the gas, and tell the others back at the Hall of Justice about The Riddler's clue. Meanwhile, the Legion of Doom decides conquering Earth is not enough, and begin taking ships into deep space to take over other planets

Batman figures out the Legion's plan thanks to Riddler's clues, and Superman, Green Lantern, and The Flash go into the future, via a nifty animated effect:

After escaping the clutches of giant, mutated spiders, our three future-traveling Super Friends learn they've gone even further ahead in time, and there are records of what the Legion of Doom did in 3984, thanks to some dusty history books:

Superman, Green Lantern, and The Flash go to 3984, defeat the Legion of Doom and return the domed city back to its "rightful" rulers. Dragging the bad guys back to the present, the Super Friends explain--for some reason--just how they defeated the Legion of Doom:

...The End!

Yes, The End--for once, this episode ends with the Legion being captured, and not getting away via some deus ex machina that Luthor was so good at inventing. What will the Super Friends do for the next two episodes, clean up the Hall of Justice?

Once again, Aquaman does absolutely nothing in this episode. He's present for the two group shots (one of which you see below), but that's it: basically he stays behind with Apache Chief, the only other character who does not participate in the action.

One nasty little throwaway in this episode is with the aliens whose planet is threatened by the solar flares: when the Super Friends finally arrive (having not even bothered to check up and see if the Legion of Doom--a trustworthy bunch--were actually doing what they said), it's stated that the alien world is now doomed. The Super Friends don't seem to care, though: once The Riddler shows up, they focus on that, and the slowly-dying planet and its residents are never seen again. Ouch.

1 comment:

This one is pretty forgettable amongst the "Challenge" episodes. The only thing I really recall about it is the Morlock-like mutants in the future. I half-expected Rod Taylor to show up and start beating on them.

I'd have to go back and re-watch the series again to verify, but I think the LOD was only captured twice.